The Ferrari 488 Spider Is as Raucous as You Hope

Whenever you take the top off a car, you sacrifice some of its structural rigidity. To compensate, carmakers will strengthen and fortify the rest of the car's frame. Often, this leads to increased weight in convertible variants of cars—and in the case of the Ferrari 488 Spider, it's about a 110-pound increase.

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On a spirited and sun-dappled outing in Italy with the 488 Spider, Chris Harris experiences for himself exactly how different the 488 Spider feels from the standard coupe. When we tested the car, we noted that because Ferrari used an aluminum structure, rather than a carbon fiber monocoque like in the McLaren competitors, the 488 Spider suffered from more shake and a little less precision on the road.

Regardless of the feel, the 488 Spider is still wickedly fast. And for those of you wondering if the turbos have done anything to dampen the noise, here's proof that they haven't. Even on camera, you can hear the small-block V-8 sing up the revs like only a Ferrari can.

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